Retired but still running...

Natalie Walker

Residents at Buckshaw’s retirement village were put through their paces during a festive run.

More than 30 runners from South Ribble Runners and their family and friends joined members of Grange Assisted Living for a five-mile run to mark the launch of a new community scheme.

Alison Evans, activities coordinator at The Grange and coach for South Ribble Runners, said: “The run was organised by me as a launch night for our new high visibility bibs which have been sponsored by Buckshaw Retirement Village (BRV).

"It should have been a nice three mile run, in my usual style at guessing distances the run covered five miles.

"After being forgiven for the minor mistake we all headed back into the Grange and enjoyed mince pies and mulled wine with the residents.

"Through my role as the coach for South Ribble Runners, a ladies club, my aim is to encourage and motivate ladies of any age, shape or size to join us on a running journey.

“Inviting the running club into the village has been a great way to work in partnership with the village and also lovely to meet the many residents who live there.

“As we look to 2017 working as the activity coordinator for the village our aim is to encourage the residents to lead a more active lifestyle.

“In January I will be attending a Just Bowl course which allows people of all abilities to take part in bowling, this has been encouraged by working with our local sports partnership .

“We look forward to organising many more events from BRV and we would like to say a special thank you to the company for the sponsorship.”

Alison has combined her two roles to raise funds for Buckshaw’s retirement village through previous events.

She added: “Through entering events with my club we have helped to raise money which has gone back into projects for our residents in the retirement village.

“This has included a trip to Blackpool, a gardening area for the residents to tend which won us a special recognition award in a company competition and mainly helped to keep our residents active.

“Many of our residents ask me daily what is the next challenge and although they laugh at my ideas for keeping fit they are very encouraging, this said earlier this year we arranged a 10 mile run from the village and once we had finished all the runners went back for bacon butties and a brew with the residents.

“This event raised £140 which went towards the Hica Shine project, an organisation that specialises in care and support solutions for older people and people with a learning disability.”